Recent wagon projects by Hywel Thomas for Morfa Bank Sidings - The under development Freightliner rake - just to show the new sides, printed out complete on an inkjet and glued directly to a Hornby base vehicle.

One of the Coil Fs - B935404, scratchbuilt.

The other Coil F, B933286, this one with LNE brakegear.

just to show that the cradles, as per the real wagons, are removeable!

These three (18, 19 and 36) are all for eye-to-side coil traffic and specifically for the transhipment of coils from BR Coil F wagons which are too long for the quay. The rake carries the four coils from one Coil F. Kit origin is.....I've forgotten!

No.12 is Parkside and No.6 is Coopercraft.

No.38 and 39 both Airfix RTR.

Both No.27 and No.29 are Bachmann

No.37 is a David Geen kit, No.5 a Coopercraft kit.

No.16 is a Ratio open, No.28 another Bachmann coal wagon. The unweathered coils show how they look when loaded.

No.40 is a single bolster (Hornby body, cut-down Airfix chassis) No.26 is a Bachmann 7-plank cut down.

These are both Alastair Clarke white metal kits although I'm not sure if they're still available. Heavily weathered, they are used on skimming and slag traffic from the foundry to a tip alongside the AW&T.

No.28, another battered Bachmann coal wagon.....

Another Ratio wagon I think - No.22 minus doors again.

Here is the rather cluttered workt bench, with the four chassis awaiting more brakegear bits. Plenty of reference material but not much space. All are former Slab wagons with three to be 1966-converted Coil K and one a 1971-converted Coil T.

Here is a Coil K, right way up, with the first details sprouting for the body. Bogies are Cambrian. Lots of rivets!

As the wagons will be hooded there was no need to model the interior of the cradle so the bracing panels were made full-width for some strength. These are all set to different spacings so this example became the prototype to mark out the other three. The oval cut-outs tested the patience!

Some of the cut-outs are not quite straight (and I wasn't about to re-do them!) but they will be almost invisible beneath the hoods. They should be finished by next month's update, assuming they haven't driven me over the edge over the next few weeks!

Update on the Morfa Bank Sidings Coil wagons by Hywel Thomas. This one, still to have a bit more weathering done, is coded 'K Coil VB'. The finished hoods used a 10-thou plastic covering over a strip framework. Onto this went fine tissue paper layers.

The Coil Ts were only fitted with a single cradle and converted in 1971. They were vacuum braked only and most featured the thick shank buffers.

This wagon carries the more common 'Coil K' code. They were air and vacuum brakes, which made for a cluttered bufferbeam. The wagons were converted from 'Slab' wagons in 1966.

The final wagon of the batch, again a 'Coil K'. After all those rivets I think my next project might be a welded prototype!

The bodywork on this fleet of seven Shochood Bs has been created using Photoshop. The flat sides of the prototype lend themselves well to this technique. Printed using a high resolution printer the sides have been attached to a plastic box with Parkside ends and chassis.

Here's the inside view to show the various laminations.

This is the inside of the separate hood, which clips onto the body.

The completed wagon except for handrails, couplings and paint.